The Rotunda

The rotunda is an elegant octagonal late-Victorian bandstand, crafted in Glasgow and in 1881 shipped in pieces to the Adelaide City Council, who re-sculptures the entire southern bank of the Torrens Lake near King William Road in order to make a flat and elevated surface for it in an open part of Elder park and then put together piece by piece. The donor, Sir Thomas Elder, had accomplished this by fiat: he simply wrote to the Council while he was away travelling in Scotland saying that he had ordered the structure and it was on its way.
Extract from "Adelaide" by Kerryn Goldsworthy

I am still reading the above book and enjoying it a lot. Learning a lot too. I am worried I will be now boring everybody around me with details of Adelaide history and art. Now, I know that the history of Adelaide is not very long, just as well, as I am not much of a historian.

It looks like we should be grateful to Sir Thomas Elder for not only the little band stand, but also the University of Adelaide, the Art Gallery of South Australia and a couple of schools. He was a very generous Scotsman.

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